Monday, 31 October 2011

I don't suppose you will have heard, but the Olympic Games are coming to London in 2012 :D Though I'm sure we are all going to grow weary of the Olympic themed marketing campaigns awaiting us, the upsides are undoubedtly going to be just as strong. Even before the big 2012 year is upon us, one of the main London 2012 sponsors has given us all a right treat - the return of one of ChocolateMission's all time favourites - the Cadbury Wispa Gold (Announcement HERE).

The Wispa Gold is indeed back in town and it has returned in the same 52.0g size of the bar we had in 2009. The wrapper has changed a little since last in marker, with the same gold foil textured wrapper having a larger emphasis on the 'GOLD' aspect of the branding to align it to the Olympic theme. The bar itself appeared consistent from previous, with the viscocity and volume of the caramel as generously flowing and appetising looking as ever.

Eagle-eyed JCM readers will have noted the minor changes in the nutritional information supplied with the 2011 bar. Recipe changes of course have to be the cause of this - JCM reader Alan has pointed to the loss of milk powder from the chocolate, and the loss of the condensed milk from the caramel as the cause and effect. So what has this done to the taste!? Well speaking as someone who was looking for differences I would say there was a noticeable edge taken away from the caramel. It had a more subtle flavour delivery - less sugary, but also less creamy and forthcoming. Speaking as someone who was analysing this all with great attention, I feel the need to stress that I expect 99.9% of people aren't going to notice (or care haha!) any differences.

Regardless of any minor changes to the caramel recipe, in my opinion this still remains one of the best chocolate bars ever made. Lets hope London 2012 brings Team GB as many gold medals as I plan to eat Cadbury Wispa Golds before the games are up. Out of everything Cadbury have done for us Games related so far, this has been by far and away their best decision.

-----*** ORIGINAL - September 7th 2009 ***

Kcal 260 Fat 14.9g Fat(sats) 8.9g Carbs 29.2g

Way back in May Cadbury issued a press release confirming the return of the Cadbury Wispa Gold for a limited time for September 2009 (HERE). That almost seems like decades ago now but the time has come upon us for the bar to make its hopefully triumphant return. Seemingly Sainsbury's have got the exclusive on this bar and I managed to track one of these down in my local shop a full week ahead of its official release date (September 14th). Before I launch into the the review itself I have to hand it to the marketing department at Cadbury. Without use of any TVC or any official press ads (yet!) they have managed to create a lot of 'buzz' about the Wispa Gold and this was all to evident when I actually witnessed someone pick up a whole box when I was in Sainsbury's purchasing my seldom one. For those of you who are not UK based and are wondering what on earth this bar actually is, it is a 'textured milk chocolate bar with caramel' that got cruelly taken out of distribution a few years ago - as you have probably gathered it has been brought back as a limited edition by Cadbury for a limited period.

Lets get down to business! In line with the original Wispa bar this limited edition Gold came in a 52.0g size that certainly did its job in providing a fulfilling snack. You can probably tell already this is going to be a review full of praise but I really have to hand it to Cadbury for the wrapper - it looks awesome. The wrapper incorporates everything that it should do and I think it's fun, clean and jazzy gold look suits the Wispa brand down to the ground. As impressed as I was with the packaging I was even more glad to see the gooey caramel oozing out enticingly when I split it in half. I will keep the Kit Kat Caramel Chunky low blows to a minimum but I think there is only one winner in terms of looks when you look at the photo above compared to the paste like substance used in the aforementioned. In addition to the seductive looking golden caramel my senses were treated to the lovely familiar Cadbury chocolate smells when I split open the foil wrapper; at this point I really felt like I was in for a treat and I wasn't wrong.

As much as I was enjoying marvelling at the wrapper and taking in the tempting Cadbury aroma there was only one thing left to do and I needed no second invitation getting stuck right in. One thing I was really looking forward to was being reunited with the feel of the airated chocolate and caramel in the mouth. To cut right to the point it felt like an absolute dream and had one of the most fantastic melts in the mouth which combined the bubbly melting chocolate and luxuriously soft caramel with great effect. As amazing as the textures were the taste wasn't too far behind and the usual Cadbury chocolate flavours were substantiated within seconds producing the familiar well rounded chocolate and milk based taste. Of course supplementing the chocolate brilliantly was the caramel and it tasted as delicious as all other Cadbury caramel products. The caramel was portioned very generously comprising 35% of the bar and it brought all the expected elements of butterscotch, brown sugar and most importantly a tiny hint of salt to the taste. The only small downside to this bar I thought was that with the textures of the chocolate and caramel being as light as they were I did feel this ever so slightly detrimented the flavour longevity in the mouth. Frankly for me this was a minor issue as the whole 52.0g bar made for a more than satisfying experience that I enjoyed from my very first bite to the very last.

Overall I have to hand it to Cadbury here - they certainly didn't sell us short or cut any corners and they have ultimately delivered a bar that has given consumers exactly what they want. Way back when I started this site I came in for a bit of criticism for my review of the original Cadbury Wispa (HERE) which had just been brought back, as I basically regarded it as being very good but possibly lacking a certain something to make it really stand out from some of the best bars on the market. Having been reunited with the Wispa Gold I feel even more confident to stand by this review as it proved that what was just originally a very good bar, can be made into a superb one with the simple addition of caramel. As brilliant as this bar is would I choose it over the Cadbury Caramel? Most the time probably not - but that is only because I prefer the bar broken into chunks and the firmer Dairy Milk chocolate as opposed the airated milk chocolate used in this bar. Would I have this again? You bet I would! This is the best chocolate bar I have tried this year and lived up to all the high expectations that came with the hype. Cadbury are claiming this bar is only coming back as a limited edition but given how brilliant it tastes it wouldn't come as a surprise if this one ends up being around for the foreseeable future.